Sand
by RisemboolRanger
Summary: Drabble (Flash Fiction Project). Side story to "Take A Chance On Me". Admitting your true feelings is always hard. Finding a creative way to do it can make it a little easier, but sometimes there are other forces just working against you. Tracey/OC


Jay plonked her backpack down on the sand, using it to sit on, facing out towards the sea. She sat not too close to the water's edge to get wet, but close enough to watch the movement of the tide as it lapped up teasingly towards their feet before withdrawing back out across the beach. Tracey more than happily pulled his own backpack from his shoulders and did the same. Jay's main partner Charmeleon, however, was not as happy about it.

"Come on, Charmy," Jay protested, as he scrambled up her lap and practically on top of her head. She wasn't a trainer to particularly nickname her Pokémon, but Charmeleon often tended to get a shortened version of his name when he was being difficult. She managed to peel him off and settle him grudgingly back into her lap. "It was okay when you were a Charmander, but you're far too big now to be climbing on my head. I'll end up lopsided!"

Tracey chuckled. "I think Charmeleon has the instinctive reaction for getting to higher ground."

"My head does not count as higher ground," Jay objected. She laid a comforting hand against the back of Charmeleon's neck. "I promise you're not gonna get wet. Look, the water doesn't come anywhere near that far in."

Whereas it was true that the tide was unpredictable, always interchangeable - no two waves followed the same path or covered the same distance - the curls of water always fell short several feet away, giving plenty of leeway for the differences between waves. The sand around where they were sat was more damp than dry, where the tide had crept up to earlier on, but it was moving further out to rest as the day was coming to a close.

Charmeleon still wasn't all that reassured. His eyes were fixed intently on the moving waters and the flame on the tip of his tail had dimmed, becoming a dull, burnt orange - a sure sign of a sulk coming on. Since he'd evolved, he'd suffered from a much longer string of mood swings. Nothing like the sweet, happy temperament he'd had as a Charmander. Jay understood that some Pokémon changed in personality, as well as form, when they evolved and that fire types were particularly known for it, but Charmeleon really could be a handful at times. She was almost dreading the day he evolved into a Charizard.

"Don't worry," Jay assured him, stroking his neck. "Would I ever let anything happen to you? We're partners, remember. We're a team!"

Charmeleon took his gaze away from the sea to give her a baleful look. His eyes suggested he wasn't so sure he believed her. Probably because she knew he hated water and she still kept forcing him to be around it. The truth was that Jay always forced it because she hoped it would help him to overcome his fear. Fire had a natural weakness against water, but maybe one day, Charmeleon would realise he was strong enough to still find ways to hold his own.

"What; you don't believe me?" Jay raised her eyebrows at his almost humanly sceptical look. "Alright then, I bet this will convince you."

She picked up a piece of twig from near her feet that had clearly drifted in on the tide. She used it to carve a message into the damp sand between her and Tracey. Charmeleon watched interestedly, in spite of himself. When Jay had finished, the words read ' _I choose you, Charmeleon_ '. It was silly and cheesy and Jay knew that, but it did the trick. Charmeleon snorted, expelling a small jet of steam from his nostrils, but his flame grew a little brighter again as he settled back against her, visibly more relaxed. When it really came down to it, he had complete trust in his trainer, regardless of his fears.

Jay was pleased. "Nobody can resist my charms," she declared jokingly.

Apparently, Charmeleon wasn't the only one. Tracey watched the redhead and her favourite Pokémon interacting with great affection. He and Jay had been travelling together for almost six months now. Jay had once confessed it was the longest anyone had stuck with her. Apparently, four past companions had come and gone with her in a matter of weeks or even days. Tracey had no idea how that was possible. Jay was fun, sweet, intelligent and she had endless passion for training and helping to study and breed Pokémon. Her ability to talk nonstop for hours was something he found endearing, not annoying.

But then he understood that he saw her in a completely different light to how others did, even if Jay didn't actually know that herself.

Whilst Jay was engrossed in chucking Charmeleon under the chin and teasing him further, Tracey snagged the small twig that Jay had left between them. He used it to lightly trace his own message in the sand on the other side of him, the words matching the ones that Jay had drawn up. _I choose you_. He hesitated with the twig in his hand as he finished, staring at what he'd written. Should he bring it to Jay's attention or quickly scuff it out before she noticed?

Jay realised that he'd at least written something. "Hey, what did you write?"

"Err..." Tracey felt heat colour his cheeks. Though he wasn't sure if it was from the idea of Jay seeing what he'd written or the fact that she was leaning across his lap to try and read it.

But Jay never got to see what it said. As she craned her neck to try and read it from an angle, Charmeleon started making panicked noises and trying to climb back onto her head again. "Hey! What on earth are you..."

She broke off with a surprised shriek as a sudden wave washed cool water over her sneakers, threatening to soak into her makeshift seat. She leapt up, keeping Charmeleon cradled against her with one arm and salvaging her backpack with the other. Tracey hastily did the same to rescue, in particular, his sleeping bag and sketchbooks from becoming soaked through. The freak wave slid slowly back out to join the other waters. If waves had a personality, then this one would have been sniggering.

As Jay was profusely attempting to apologise to the once more sulky Charmeleon that she'd been wrong and hadn't expected any waves to reach that far, Tracey glanced back down at the sand. The cheeky wave had washed away his message entirely. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He glanced back at Jay trying to reason with her Pokémon, the love for him clear on her face. She was clearly happy with how her life was right now. Change might spoil that.

Maybe now just wasn't the right time. The tide had decided that for him. But that was okay. He'd have plenty of chances to try and tell her again in the future.


End file.
